Biological testing involving analyzing the chemical composition of nucleic acid samples in order to determine the nucleotide sequence of the sample has become increasingly popular. Currently, experiments in chemistry and biology typically involve evaluating large numbers of samples using techniques such as detection of fluorescence emitted from a sample in conjunction with a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These experiments, as well as other techniques such as sequencing of nucleic acid samples, are typically time consuming and labor intensive. Therefore, it is desirable that a large number of samples can be analyzed quickly and accurately. With large scale projects such as the Human Genome Project, it is desirable to increase throughput of nucleic acid sequencing and polymerase chain reactions.
Existing systems are typically not well-adapted for real-time detection of a plurality of samples in an efficient manner. Existing systems typically include a separate detector for each sample well and are not compatible for large-scale testing using fluorescent detection. Therefore, there is a need for an efficient method and system for real-time detection of a plurality of sample wells of a sample well tray.